Employees keeping quiet about malicious cyberattacks fuels dangers for British businesses 

Almost two-fifths of UK-based office workers (39%) wouldn’t tell their cyber security team if they thought they had been the victim of a malicious cyberattack at work. This is despite the fact they are more cyber savvy than their peers in Europe.

A study by data security and management expert Cohesity shows that British employees are more aware of cyber threats, such as ransomware, than their counterparts in France and Germany. 43% of UK employees know exactly what ransomware is, compared to just 28% in France and 30% in Germany.

And yet, despite being clued up on the dangers, with four in five (79%) confident they could identify a malicious cyberattack, many Brits would stay schtum and wouldn’t alert cyber security teams if they thought they had been targeted.

Why are UK employees keeping quiet?

• They wouldn’t want people to think it was their fault (17%)
• They don’t want to get into trouble (17%)
• They are afraid of causing an unnecessary fuss (15%)

One in ten (11%) would even try to fix it themselves rather than seek official help from the company experts.

The research findings come as businesses face an ever-growing range of cyber risks, from ransomware to phishing and deepfakes. This failure to alert their business to a suspected attack could delay their organisation’s response, leaving the door wide open for hackers to wreak immense damage.

“Staying silent if they suspect a malicious cyberattack is quite possibly the worst thing an employee could do, particularly when they claim to know the dangers. This reluctance to speak up leaves organisations in the dark and vulnerable to serious damage to the business,” said Olivier Savornin GVP Europe at Cohesity. “We need to create a workplace culture where people feel comfortable raising the alarm and are properly trained on how to recognise a cyber threat and the correct action to take – no matter how small the issue might seem. But people are only part of the cyber resilience story.”

“Time is of the essence when dealing with a cyberattack to get back up and running quickly, in a secure state, and with limited impact on business operations and revenues. Planning, processes, people and technology are all key elements to building cyber resilience,” added James Blake, Global Head of Cyber Resiliency Strategy at Cohesity.”